Griffin laments crucial defensive lapses

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Penrith coach Anthony Griffin said his side wasn't strong enough to compete with the Storm for the entire 80 minutes in Saturday's 24-6 loss to Melbourne.

Griffin was upset with the Panthers' first-half defensive efforts as the Storm were able to clear their lines too easily.

"I thought we didn't have the 80 minutes of footy in us that we needed," Griffin said.

"We started very well and in the second half we clawed our way back into the game physically, but over the whole 80 minutes we just weren't strong enough.

"They got out of their end far too easily in the first half with penalties and our lack of defensive pressure.

"Our kicking game was quite good and we were getting through our sets, but for the back end of that first half they just got out of their end way too easy. We made a couple of defensive errors, and that's enough to get beaten by."

Draw Widget - Round 13 - Storm vs Panthers

Josh Mansour and Matt Moylan both backed up after playing for New South Wales in Origin I on Wednesday night, with Griffin and Moylan saying there was no doubting the two would feature against the Storm.

"They both handled it really well, there was never a question that they weren't going to play. They both wanted to play, and I thought they both played well," Griffin said.

NSW fullback Moylan said he had no trouble backing up from his Origin debut.

"I had a couple of days off where I was able to get away from it and relax and wind down and get my head around getting out there tonight," Moylan added.

Griffin also quashed rumours surrounding a supposed rift between the club and hooker James Segeyaro and said that the decision not to include Segeyaro this week was merely a tactical one.

"He wasn't selected in this team but he's a contracted player at our club, there's no issue… we just wanted to go with one hooker, and Peter Wallace is the form hooker at our club at the moment, it's just a selection thing," Griffin said.